Rescue our Rivers Action in Sheffield

On Saturday this giant Angler Fish toured Sheffield City Centre, bringing smiles and curiosity from the good folk of Sheffield. It was accompanied by signs saying “Warning Sewage Ahead”, large turds dangling from poles and signs saying “Yorkshire Water is full of s**t.

Extinction Rebellion brought the dire state of our rivers to the public’s attention and offered them two things they could do about it. They are calling for everyone to sign the 38 Degrees petition, Rescue our Rivers. And they are calling for people to refuse to pay the sewerage part of their water bill until Yorkshire Water cleans up its act. 

The leaflet that many shoppers grabbed said “Our rivers are in crisis. Every single river in England is polluted beyond legal limits. Our rivers are unsafe to swim or play in and our wildlife is disappearing.

Sheffield’s River Don is in poor health. Yorkshire Water discharges sewage overflow into our rivers and sea during heavy rain. In 2023 it was the second worst water company in England for sewage spills. Nevertheless, the two top bosses were given joint bonuses of £616,000 while our bills go up.

Water companies paid shareholders £1.4 billion in 2022 while claiming they don’t have the resources to clean up our rivers. That’s where your bills go. We’re paying through the nose and it is making us sick!

The 2024 State of Our Rivers Report says

“ Still none of England’s river stretches are in good or high overall health:

• 0% are in good overall status
• 0% are in high overall status
• 23% are classed as in poor or bad overall status
• 85% of river stretches fall below good ecological standards; only 15% achieve good or above ecological health status”

Of the 3553 river stretches they have data for, just 151 stretches of river got better and moved up an ecological standard, and 158 got worse. The most common reasons for failure are agriculture 62% (from fertiliser, chemicals and livestock), the water industry 54% (from untreated sewage discharge and abstraction of groundwater) urban and transport sector 26% (transport pollutants, litter, microplastics etc). For 39%  the cause was not known.

Chemical pollution is a big problem. UPBT stands for ubiquitous, persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic. These chemicals are found everywhere, remain in the environment for a long time, build up through the food chain, and are very harmful. The uPBTs that have been identified include mercury (now banned) which used to be in medicines, brominated diphenyl ethers (pBDE) used as a flame retardant, the now-banned tributyltin that used to clean barnacles from boats, and certain polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from burning wood or hydrocarbons. There are many chemicals that are still in use today which are emerging as pollutants of our freshwater too; for example, pharmaceuticals, fungicides and compounds commonly found in pesticide treatments used on pets.  

Our sewerage system clearly isn’t working. Far too many untreated sewage overspills are happening each year: 300,763 spills were reported in England in 2022 alone! This represents what the water companies report to the government and is likely to be underestimated because not all sites are monitored all the time, so the situation could be much worse.

While tougher regulation and enforcement is needed to make sure this trend doesn’t continue, heavier rainfall expected due to climate change will make it even worse. More building developments will also exacerbate the problem because there will be more surface water and sewage for the sewers to cope with.  

The petition organised by River Action, is supported by over fifty organisations. They are calling on political leaders to rescue Britain’s rivers for nature and people by:

1. Ending sewage pollution

2. Stopping agriculture polluting our rivers

3. Preventing harmful chemicals at source

4. Securing water supply for everyone

5. Bringing nature back from the brink

6. Reforming planning rules and prompting natural solutions

7. Protecting river habitats and wildlife

8. Monitoring pollution of all rivers

9. Inspecting polluters and enforcing the law

10. Working together to restore our rivers

Sean Ashton, who carried the fish, said “People loved our giant Angler Fish and were very receptive to our message. Nearly 110,000 people have now signed the 38 Degrees petition to Rescue our Rivers”.

But we need to pile more pressure on the Water Companies if we are going to get them to act. One of the most successful campaigns I have ever taken part in was the Poll Tax campaign. The enormous number of people refusing to pay, clogging up the courts and hurting the Government where they most notice it, in their accounts, led to the end of the most hated tax in recent history. 

So Extinction Rebellion is suggesting we stop paying for Dirty Water. 

We are withholding payment of the sewerage charge portion of our bills until the UK government and water companies stop poisoning and start cleaning up coasts and waterways across the UK.

They can’t ignore you not paying them. Every 1000 people joining their local boycott creates an average loss of almost £1m for their water company in just 10 weeks.

Izzy Price, who was leafleting the public said “The vast majority were very happy to take a leaflet on this topic and were very supportive, as well as angry – lots of “good for you”s and “I’m with you”.

Those who chatted for longer were disgusted or furious or both, mentioning fat salaries and bonuses, lack of investment in the infrastructure and (the possibility of) rising bills to compensate for this, as well as anger at such an essential resource being in private hands, stating that water and power should be nationalised. A passer by shouted ‘At last – one demo I CAN support’!

Our placards, turds and the fish were cause for amusement and plenty of photographs but my overall sense of the day is that people are fed up to the back teeth with the state of our water and the mismanagement of it. Several people commented the government should be doing something about it.

Here are the two actions you can take.

Sign the petition here.

Find out more about boycotting Yorkshire Water bills here.

Don’t let Elon Musk control what you read! Subscribe for free to TelltheTruthSheffield.org and get each post straight to your inbox.